Climate Change and the Military: Examining the Pentagon’s Integration of National Security Interests and Environmental Goals under Clinton

Cold open. This is a briefing from the National Security Archive, a declassified collection of United States government records. The document is titled “Climate Change and the Military: Examining the Pentagon’s Integration of National Security Interests and Environmental Goals under Clinton,” dated May twenty‑six, twenty‑twenty‑two, and it is notable because it details how the Department of Defense positioned environmental security within national security policy during the Clinton administration. Provenance. The material was released to the public through Freedom of Information Act requests, filed under the National Security Archive’s digital collection “The Diplomacy of Climate Change: U.S. Policy from the Montreal Protocol to the Paris Agreement, 1981‑2015.” The documents were posted on the archive’s website on May twenty‑six, twenty‑twenty‑two, and are available at the canonical URL archive.org/download/climate-change-and-the-military-pentagon-integration/Climate%20Change%20and%20the%20Military--Pentagon%20Integration_djvu.txt. The document. The briefing opens with a photograph description: “Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security Sherri Goodman at an environmental conference, June second, nineteen‑ninety‑seven. Goodman was a negotiator in Kyoto and a major advocate for Pentagon efforts to emphasize environmental security as a part of national security policy.” The text continues: “The Pentagon’s role in U.S. environmental policy expanded during the Clinton presidency as the Pentagon became a more active player at international climate change conferences and pressed for acceptance of policies favorable to the U.S. military, according to declassified documents posted today by the nongovernmental National Security Archive. For example, the Defense Department pushed for military exemptions to the Kyoto Protocol and gained defenders for that provision among U.S. climate change negotiators despite calls from other countries and nongovernmental environmental organizations to close what they described as a ‘loophole.’” It adds: “Partly responding to pressure from these quarters, the Pentagon also committed to adhering to practices that were more environmentally responsible. The records in today’s posting primarily focus on perspectives of U.S. diplomats and officials who realized the importance of issues like bunker fuels, but also describe the Defense Department’s energy consumption, role in environmental policy, and interagency cooperation on climate change issues.” The briefing notes that the e‑book includes “views of President Clinton’s closest advisers and shows the importance to the U.S. delegation of exemptions won in Kyoto after the third Conference of Parties in nineteen‑ninety‑seven.” Further, the document states: “Virtually all of the documents posted here are the result of Freedom of Information Act requests. They appear in the latest collection from the Digital National Security Archive, The Diplomacy of Climate Change, edited by Dr. Robert A. Wampler, consisting of two thousand four hundred forty professionally catalogued and indexed records, plus numerous finding aids, published by ProQuest and available at many major libraries.” The narrative then highlights key officials: “Sherri W. Goodman, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security, was appointed to lead the Pentagon’s Office of Environmental Security in nineteen‑ninety‑three. She called for the use of environmentally sustainable technologies and declared that nineteen‑ninety‑six was an ‘exciting time for DOD’s environmental professionals.’ William J. Perry, the Secretary of Defense at the time, argued in a speech to the Society of American Military Engineers in November nineteen‑ninety‑six that a ‘strong environmental program’ was important for the Pentagon, linking environmental protection to military quality of life and readiness.” The document also records internal dissent: “Laurent R. Hourcle, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and former head of the Air Force’s Environmental Law division, complained about environmental regulations which he called onerous, noting that ‘they always have and they always will’ in reference to military activities and pollution.” Context. The National Security Archive’s release statement reads: “These records were obtained through FOIA litigation and are provided to the public to illuminate the intersection of climate policy and national security during the Clinton era. The Archive makes no claim as to the completeness of the record, but the documents illustrate how the Department of Defense sought both exemptions and greater environmental responsibility in the late 1990s.” Outro. This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. For the full text, visit storyflo.com and the archive URL at archive.org/download/climate-change-and-the-military-pentagon-integration/Climate%20Change%20and%20the%20Military--Pentagon%20Integration_djvu.txt.